Fed leaves interest rate unchanged but 3 officials dissent

The US Federal Reserve left its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday, although three officials dissented in favor of higher rates as the central bank wrestles with how to deal with persistently high inflation.

US President Donald Trump praised the decision made under his handpicked Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh.

DONALD TRUMP: "No. Kevin is fantastic. He's got a board. Kevin's got a board. He's fantastic. He's a brilliant guy. Smart. I know he'd love to see lower interest rates, but he's got a board, and it's a political board, and they want to keep rates up. But we fight through rates. We have the greatest, the strongest investment ever made in a country-of any country."

The Fed's rate-setting committee reached its decision after two days of deliberations, marking the fifth straight meeting at which the benchmark rate was kept at around 3.6%.

Some economists and Wall Street analysts had predicted the Fed would hike its rate by a quarter point.

While the decision could be seen as good news for consumers, they might not feel much relief with the average credit card rate still near 20% and mortgage rates the highest since last August.

The three regional Fed bank presidents who dissented, Beth Hammack of the Cleveland Fed, Neel Kashkari from Minneapolis and Lorie Logan from Dallas had previously called for or signalled they would be open to raising rates to combat high prices.

Analysts say the dissents show the Fed is not yet convinced the inflation battle has been won.